Thursday, August 01, 2013

In Southwestern Oklahoma, near the town of Davis, you'll find an adventure just off the beaten path. Exit off I35 onto highway 77 and follow it west. You'll soon see the signs for Turner Falls Park. It's about $12 for adults and I think about $6 for kids to get in. Which really is a good value considering how much there is to do. The place reminds me of what an amusement park would have been like years ago, before all the Six Flags and Wet-n-Wild's popped up. The park is basically truly outdoor amusement park. The primary activities are swimming, hiking, camping and of course, eating. By the photos above, you could say the primary activity for me was photography. Which is my main reason for venturing north with my camera.

The centerpiece of the park is Turner Falls (photographed above). A small stream called Honey Creek winds it's way out of the near by Arbuckle Mountains and creates the 77 foot waterfall and swimming pool that is Turner Falls. It's really a beautiful natural made structure. I can only imagine how much fun someone must have had when they first found this location in the wilderness. It really is a natural wonder and an unusual sight in this part of the country.

If you're a photographer like myself, this park really is treat to visit. Not only do you have the water fall and swimming pool area to shoot, but there are nature trails to hike, a few small caves to explore and even a small castle structure built by the original property owner (also pictured above). On this particular trip, I only spent about 4.5 hours shooting. But it would be easy to get a camp site and spend a couple days with camera in hand shooting.

For this photo of Turner Falls, I shot it using a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens with a neutral density filter which allowed me to blur the water on the waterfall with a 1/2 second exposure. I also removed a couple swimmers from the pool because I felt they were a distraction to the beauty of the scene.

I hope to return to this location in the Fall so I can explore and photograph it in more detail.